Photos: Cubs reveal Wrigley Field restoration plans

Chicago Cubs brass today unveiled a video and series of renderings detailing a five-year plan for restoring Wrigley Field, including locker room renovations, improved training facilities, more restrooms and concessions, a new left-field LED board and a fan deck next to the left-field foul pole.

The upgrades, which Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney told fans will cost $300 million, are set to begin next off-season, with other phases set to be implemented during ensuing off-seasons to avoid having to play any home games in another stadium.

The proposed lower concourse

Among other changes planned are expanding lower concourses to help with fan congestion, adding gathering areas in the upper concourse with skyline views, removing the concrete and upgrading the area around the marquee sign (which will remain untouched).

The Cubs also plan to remove the LED board that sits below the historic center-field scoreboard (and also to add more concessions there), and are considering adding a small pavilion in the triangle property adjacent to the stadium to host outdoor movies, farmers markets and ice skating and other community events. Other amenities unveiled in the conceptual drawings were six new elevators around the stadium and a new entrance on the west side of the stadium down the left-field line.

The first phase will involve changes to the clubhouse and player facilities. All renovations will eventually reduce the stadium's capacity by 70 seats.

Skyline view from the upper concourse

More notable, however, were Mr. Kenney's comments on how the project will be funded, confirming that the Cubs have partly shifted their focus from seeking a public financial subsidy to working with the city on reducing their signage and neighborhood restrictions.

“If (the Ricketts family is) going to be allowed to build their business, put signs where they need them, hold games when they need them — they're prepared to write the entire check themselves,” Mr. Kenney told reporters after the hourlong session in front of hundreds of fans at the Cubs Convention.

Fan deck slated for just beyond the left field foul pole

“The landmark ordinance isn't our problem,” he said. “It's the ability to add marketing elements we need and host games when we feel like it.”

There's a lot involved with that, of course, between appeasing Wrigleyville neighbors and trying to work with rooftop owners, which have a revenue-sharing contract with the team. But that effort might be more palatable than anything involving an amusement tax concession by the city.

Earlier in the day, Cubs owner Tom Ricketts answered fan questions about the progress of financing discussions with the city, saying only that talks are ongoing but that the biggest obstacles are signage and neighborhood restrictions.

“What we would like is to be treated as a private institution,” he said.